Glimpses into a Parallel Universe
by Independent Dude
Summary: Five looks at what our main characters were doing in the alternate universe before Founders' Day, each seen through the eyes of one of the time travelling five. NEW! Chapter 5: Jack's Chapter is up!
1. Henry's Chapter

Henry's Chapter

"Are you sure you don't want the rest of the champagne?" asked Steven, as Henry and Grace stepped out onto the porch.

"No, no, we have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow," said Henry. He stopped to take in the splendor of the snow-covered campus. Maybe it was the mildness of the Idaho winter, maybe it was the overhang of the porch protecting him from any wind, maybe it was even all the champagne he had already drunk while watching the ball drop on TV, but he did not feel cold at all.

"Well, here, at least take a bottle of wine with you," said Steven, turning back into the house. "Honey, grab that bottle on the counter for Henry and Grace."

"No, that's alright, Steven," said Henry.

"Look at them," said Laura, Steven's wife, who arrived with the requested bottle. "It's like they're back in grad school all over again, arguing over which one was going to get stuck grading the Astronomy 101 finals."

Grace laughed. She had not known Henry back then, but her friendship with Laura and Steven had taken fast roots since the couple's visit to Eureka last year.

"Yes." She took the wine for her husband. "Steve, Laura, it has been a blast seeing you again." She hugged their hostess, while Henry shook his old friend's hand. "But we have to get back to the hotel and pack."

"You're driving back to Eureka?" asked Steven.

"Yes, but first we're going to stop in Salem, to see Kim's folks," said Henry.

Everyone else was quiet. Laura looked down; Steven let a pained expression cross his face for a moment, and then quickly went back to masculine neutrality.

"Grace's folks," said Grace. She was looking firmly at her husband, not with anger, but sympathy, as if she could make the painful memories go away by her efforts alone.


	2. Fargo's Chapter

Fargo's chapter

"So let me make sure I've got this straight," said Dr. Fargo, getting up from behind his desk. "You created a variety of water that can expand infinitely upon contact with normal human blood plasma, and you released said variety into the building's general water supply? What part of that sounded like a good idea at the time?"

Dr. Rivers said nothing; she just stood in front of the director's desk with her head hung down like a scolded child.

But Fargo was not finished. "I'm the one who gets it in the ear from General Mansfield! Every time something like this happens, he's on me, saying, 'Cut their funding! Fire them!' And I have to stick up for you people, always having to tell him that the positive contributions you all make outweigh the occasional accidental near-apocalypse!" He stepped around the desk and got right in front of the other scientist. "Well you know what? No more! The next time one of you idiots screws up, I'm going to step the_ frak_ out of the way and let him CAN YOUR SORRY ASS!"

At that moment, Larry chose to interrupt, giving Dr. Rivers the chance to escape without letting her boss see her sobs. "Um, Dr. Fargo…"

"SAY THE WRONG THING, LARRY! -" Fargo threatened, pointing at his long-suffering assistant with a fountain pen.

"I was only going to remind you, sir," said Larry, "that you have a grant proposal review meeting in the Natural Sciences Annex in fifteen minutes."

"Right, right," said Fargo, beginning to calm down. "whose proposal is that, again?"

"Um, that would be Dr. Leonardo, sir."

"Great," said Fargo, "the botanist." He shook his head. "What is it now? Weaponized kudzu?" he muttered as looked for the relevant paperwork on his desk. "Oh well," he said, finding the proposal and putting it into his briefcase, "at least she's not displeasing to the eyes, eh Larry?"

"Yes sir," said Larry, going back to his desk.


	3. Jo's Chapter

Jo's Chapter

"Hey Lupo!"

Donovan's pounding on the roof of her car nearly made Jo Lupo jump out of her skin, much less her seat.

"Relax, Lupo. You can call off the manhunt," Zane said. "The virtue of Eureka's young female population remains woefully intact."

"Where. Did you. Just come from?" asked Jo, in a voice forced into too much calmness.

"I was on a date. You know Anne, the hot new waitress at Café Diem? Turns out she's a Born-Again." Zane shook his head. "By the way, Jesus loves us."

"But how did you get out here?" Jo asked, getting out of her car. She was still visibly shaken.

"Uh, the kitchen door," shrugged Zane. Then he followed her gaze through the front window of his house and saw what was making Jo act like she had seen a ghost. His eyes widened as realization coursed through his frontal lobe.

"You thought _that_ was me?" he exclaimed, pointing in the window. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain. "It's a hologram, Lupo!" He clicked a button, and the image of Zane, casually watching TV and eating popcorn, disappeared. "You mean you didn't notice how it kept doing the same things over and over again? I only had like ten minutes at lunch to do the motion capture." He threw his head back and laughed. "Oh this is rich!"

Jo was still looking in the window, where holo-Zane had been.

"I saw your car, and I thought you were waiting to catch me _coming back_!" Zane could barely contain himself. "But this whole time you thought I was still in the house, because you were staking out a hologram! I fooled the head of GD security! This _totally_ makes up for two and a half hours of non-naked Bible study with the Church Lady! I'm a believer! Amen!" Donovan nearly doubled over with laughter.

"Donovan, you're a jackass," said Jo, shaking her head in disgust. She got back into her car. Zane was still crowing about his minor victory, and had now attracted a small audience of equal parts late night dog-walkers and annoyed neighbors. She wanted no part of being Donovan's punchline.

As she pulled away from the curb, she carefully thumbed the safety back into place on her sidearm.

_Jackass_, she thought.


	4. Allison's Chapter

Allison's Chapter

As she came down the stairs, Allison could hear the boys laughing.

"Kevin, Dre`, please keep it down!" she said, "You'll wake Jenna!"

Kevin Blake turned in his seat. "Sorry, mom!" he said. And then he had an idea: "Hey mom! Can we use you as a resource? We're building a robot mom." With that, both he and his friend started searching in their bookbags for notebooks.

"A what?" asked Allison. She usually ignored the barrage of words that seemed to flow eternally out of her son's mouth, but this warranted a double take.

"Yeah, it's for Robotics class," explained Kevin. "It's our semester project. We had to choose from a list, so we chose 'robot mom.'"

"Ah," said Allison. "And when is this due?"

"Don't worry, Dr. Blake," said Lucas, the boys' mentor and third person sitting at the kitchen table. "They don't have to actually _build_ a robotic parent. I had the same teacher when I was in their grade. Dr. Robinson just wants them to write the computer program that controls it." Lucas reached over and took Kevin's notebook and, opening it to a blank page, handed it to Allison. "Now, if you could just list for us everything you do in a day as a mother, preferably in the form of a flowchart or algorithm…"

"Everything a mother does in a day?" She looked down at Lucas, and then over at Dre`. "Uh, somehow I don't think your parents would appreciate me keeping you here for the next nineteen lifetimes. That would take you way past dinner time." Her son's friends smiled sheepishly back. Even Kevin had to blush and stifle a laugh.

"Sorry, mom," said Kevin. "We're just trying to get it done before the weekend, so we can go see that new movie that's coming out."

"Well, in that case," said the head of Global Dynamics Medical Section, pulling up an extra chair to the table between her son and Lucas, "let me see what you've come up with so far..."


	5. Jack's Chapter

(**A/N:** Thanks to The Red Fedora for beta-ing this chapter)

Jack's chapter

The phone in Eureka's Sheriff's Office rang. "Hello, Sheriff's office, Deputy Andy speaking," said the town's android lawman.

"Oh, awesome, Andy, you're still there!" said the voice on the other end.

Andy recognized the voice. "Sheriff Carter? What can I do you for, Sheriff?" he cheerfully replied.

"I need a huge favor," said Jack Carter, town sheriff and Andy's supervisor.

"Sure! How can I help?" chuckled the robot.

"Alright, listen. I need you to go into the equipment locker, get a handcuff key and bring it to my house, as fast as you can."

"A key for standard-issue handcuffs, Sheriff?" asked Andy. "Don't you keep a spare?"

"The spare _is_ the one I keep at my house!" said Carter, sounding more exasperated by the minute. "And right now it's behind the…I can't see where it…just bring the stupid key, okay!"

"Yes sir, Sheriff," said Andy, having already opened the storage bin and fished out one regulation police handcuff key. "I am twenty seconds away from being en route."

"Thank you," said Jack.

Andy was about to hang up when he thought he heard what sounded like angry yelling in the background. His processors immediately went into emergency mode, doubling the speed of his calculations even as he was getting into the police jeep. The starting of the engine blocked the sound for a split second, but he distinctly heard S.A.R.A.H., the AI from Sheriff Carter's "smart house," admonishing somebody that their stress levels were becoming dangerously elevated.

All joviality gone from his voice, Andy asked Jack, "Sheriff Carter, are you in danger?" while accelerating the jeep to the maximum safe speed for traffic conditions.

There was a pause, and then Jack Carter answered with that strangely dry voice of his: "Not at present, no…but you _might _want to save that question until after we get Tess unlocked."


End file.
